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Freak out with Róisín Murphy, sleep with Cillian Murphy, lounge ethically, dance with your wine and sniff your bathwater this weekend.
Too early for the C-word? You might want to give Santa a heads up about The Ethical Silk Company, or at least get your loved ones to crowdfund a set of their silk pyjamas: once you’ve slept in these superior two-pieces, it’s very hard to go back to clammy onesies. Plus, no silk-worms were harmed in the making of these temperature-regulating sets designed by Dubliner Eva Power: mulberry silk is extracted after the moth has left the cocoon, resulting in a matte-lustre finish, manufactured in Jaipur by Fairtrade tailoring unit, Mehera Shaw. Long sleeve/full length pyjama sets €245.
Olfactory memory is a beautiful thing. It means that when we smell, for instance, a drizzle of lemongrass essential oil, we are transported to a holiday in Thailand, or perhaps ylang ylang might summon that beautiful bohemian you once snogged in the student union bar several moons ago. Relive whatever tickles your fancy with a top quality organic certified oil from Irish brand The Nature of Things, whose suite of scents include Atlas Cedar harvested in Morocco, eucalyptus from Spain, frankincense from Somaliland and geranium from Egypt – ethically, naturally.
Add a few drops to your bath and drift off to wherever the fragrance takes you. (Top tip: to naturally repel spiders from your home, add four or five drops of citrus, peppermint, tea tree or cedar oil – or a combination – into a spray bottle of water and spritz into corners and around any gappy door and window frames. You’re welcome). Essentials oils from €7.
Never judge a book by a cover, but what about wine labels? Many of us have been fished in by good vin design, and When We Dance’s distinctly *fashion* label could simply style over substance. Thankfully it tastes as good as it looks. It’s a cheeky Chianti from the Tenuta Il Palagio estate – the Tuscan pile of Sting and Trudie Styler, no less – and has vivacious expressions of black berries, tobacco and balsamic, via the Sangiovese (“blood of Jupiter”) grape. Biodynamic, very quaffable and, yes, very chic. But does it bestow tantric superpowers, though? Approximately €20 at selected off-licenses and retailers across the land.
…And when we dance, it will be to Róisín Machine, Ms Murphy’s fifth solo LP – a glitter ball of disco, house and funk opera that the world needs now more than ever. Yes, the prospect of solo dancing around the kitchen in sweatpants is bittersweet: this banger begs for good company, sweat and a sticky dance floor, not a level-three lockdown. But once you’ve stopped weeping about the summer festivals that never were, you’ll be too busy throwing shapes to the slow burn of Something More, the skittish Shellfish Mademoiselle and climactic belter Jealousy, thanks to Róisín’s wily collaboration with Richard Barratt aka DJ Parrot aka Crooked Man.
If the idea of going on a staycation with Cillian Murphy tickles your fancy, you’d better register with the hugely successful Calm app. The Cork-born actor lends his dulcet tones to the digital mindfulness platform, joining the likes of Harry Styles, Matthew McConaughey, Laura Dern, Lucy Liu and Stephen Fry as “Sleep Story” narrators. There are no Dart or Commuter trains in Phoebe Smith’s nicely paced tale, thankfully, but a blue and silver locomotive that trundles across the island of Ireland, taking in Dunluce Castle and Rostrevor, which inspired CS Lewis, moving through Georgian Belfast, literary Dublin, the Wild Atlantic coast and a final stop of Cobh. Failte Ireland and Discover Northern Ireland will be as thrilled as its listeners.
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